He’s responded well. Averaging 13.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, Gortat is entrenched in the Wizards’ starting lineup. He’s developed a good rapport with Nene, Washington’s power forward, and his ability to run the court meshes well with the strengths of Washington’s lightning-fast point guard, John Wall.

Better yet, the Wizards have won six of their last eight games and have risen to fifth place in the East standings entering their game tonight against the Magic at Verizon Center.

“I learned being in Phoenix that it doesn’t matter what kind of numbers you put in,” Gortat said. “Your name isn’t going to be mentioned — your name doesn’t mean nothing — if you’re losing 60 games a year.”

There was a time not long ago that Gortat was a key member of a team that won 50 games each season and considered itself an NBA title contender.

Gortat served as the backup to Dwight Howard, and Gortat played a role in the Magic’s playoff run to the 2009 NBA Finals. He helped again the following season, when Orlando arguably had a better team but lost in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics.

In Dec. 2010, everything changed — for Gortat and the Magic.

The team traded him, Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first-round draft pick and cash to the Suns for Earl Clark, Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu. On the same day, the Magic traded Rashard Lewis to the Wizards for Gilbert Arenas.

At the time, Carter was coming off of a disappointing playoff series against the Celtics, and Howard had lost faith in Carter as a go-to scorer. Meanwhile, with Lewis struggling, team officials wanted to create playing time at power forward for Ryan Anderson and Brandon Bass.

In retrospect, both moves proved to be disastrous long-term for the Magic.

For Gortat, the trade to Phoenix gave him a chance to earn the playing time he craved in Orlando but was never going to receive as Howard’s backup.

“That was a front-office decision,” Gortat said. “I’m not going to lie: It was a great move for me personally. Was it a great personnel move for the Orlando Magic? I don’t think so. But they decided to make a move, and pretty much they got punished for it.

“For me, I wanted to go out and play as much as I love Orlando, as much as I loved the team and the franchise and Stan [Van Gundy]. After all this time, now you realize you love Stan. I’ve been spoiled. I’ve been basically spoiled. I’ve been around the league for seven years, and I’ve seen a lot of young guys coming into this league that have no idea what to do to survive in this league. They have no idea what to do to become a decent player in this league. And if you don’t have a great coach from the get-go, and a group of veterans, sooner or later, you’re going to end up out of the league. And, I’ve been basically spoiled.”

(Gortat also credits Van Gundy's former lead assistant coach, Brendan Malone, and the Magic's former strength and conditioning coach, Joe Rogowski, for developing him into a solid pro.)

The Suns went 40-42 in Gortat’s first season with the team, 33-33 in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season and 25-57 last season. Phoenix missed the playoffs all three seasons.

Gortat wanted a change, and the trade to Washington provided it.

Now, he couldn’t be much happier.

He’s scheduled to become a free agent after this season, but, first, he wants the Wizards to make a playoff push.

“We believe, and I believe, that we have a lot of potential on this team,” Gortat said.